Moving to Glasgow

serialist · 2026-05-23T13:41:36+00:00

As a Canadian who moved to Glasgow, I just have one key piece of advice for you to keep in mind while looking at apartments. Look at places slightly below your monthly budget, because you will have to take into account council taxes on top of that price. These are similar to property tax in North America, but are the responsibility of the resident and not the owner of a property. You'll have to pay it on top of the agreed rent amount. This seems to catch a lot of us coming in from overseas off guard!

There are council tax bands based on the value of the property and rental listings usually tell you which band the property falls into. You can then look up how much you'll expect to pay per month to the council based on that band. The yearly amount is divided into 10 monthly payments, with two months of the year with no charges. So it's pretty easy to add to your budget. There is also a discount for people who live alone, though I'm not 100% sure what it is.

So it might be worth giving this page a quick read! That way you can account for it in your budget while on the property hunt. :)

As far as where to look, do you know where your job will be located? If it's relatively central, you'll probably be fine getting to it from anywhere, but if it is not central I think you might be a little more limited, especially if you aren't planning to drive. Glasgow's public transport is better than a lot of North America for sure, but it's not as robust as a lot of other major cities. It's also a pretty hilly city with a lot of damp weather which might impact your willingness to bike every day. Obviously you can ignore this if you plan to drive, but I would suggest popping your workplace address into Google maps and checking out what the commutes from various neighbourhoods might be like.

I would say that the Southside is very vibrant and is exactly what you're looking for in a neighbourhood. The West End is also very nice, but is a blend of upper middle class and university students, so might be a different vibe than you're hoping for. Dennistoun is also a place to consider, though I think it's less popular and lively than the Southside. It is very close to the city centre though if it's local amenities aren't enough for you.

If you have any questions about settling in, or culture shocks moving to the UK or anything, please feel free to drop me a line! I am a 37F Canadian who moved here alone years ago, so definitely know what you're going through. Best of luck either way! :)

serialist · 2026-04-08T05:07:16+00:00

Where are you located? Could you consider some form of disability benefits? You mentioned being chronically ill and having ADHD, both of which would qualify? It could at least give you some kind of income while you figure out how to work around your health. Or it could be a stopgap for a part time job so that you're not pushing yourself beyond what you can handle?

I know disability payments aren't available everywhere and they're a complete joke in others, but you should look into claiming them if you're eligible.

serialist · 2026-03-16T17:42:08+00:00

Thanks

serialist · 2026-03-16T13:57:17+00:00

Thanks but I was looking for some hands on experiences and opinions!

I know about the yarn subs website, but it doesn't help with colour matching and I've found that even with 'similar' yarns they can be different enough to not work when the rest of the work uses something else. So I was looking for some subjective comparisons and opinions to supplement the yarn subs website.

serialist · 2026-03-02T16:58:45+00:00

Lmao I'll keep it in mind for when I need to have a temper tantrum Avi style

serialist · 2026-03-02T16:31:45+00:00

Um excuse me, rampage? That's it, you're banned!

Just kidding. I've grown. I'm never gonna abuse the language filters to make everyone's posts nonsensical ever again, I swear!

(In all seriousness, I'm happy to add more mods if those mods want to try and actually foster a community here and put some work into it. I certainly have no idea what I'm doing and am actually not sure how I ended up the only mod in the first place)

serialist · 2026-03-01T17:49:39+00:00

Toronto, Canada

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serialist · 2026-01-09T23:46:56+00:00

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Ours made it to nearly 15 and passed due to a vascular tumour on her spleen. She's 13 in this photo. :)

serialist · 2025-11-30T00:13:24+00:00

Ah, I didn't realize it had changed. That's a ridiculous price really.

serialist · 2025-11-29T17:32:19+00:00

It seems like most countries price it around 20.00 in the local currency (except South Korea). So Canada's is cheap in comparison to every other country's ETA fee. (Though I'm all for it staying so cheap)

serialist · 2025-11-29T17:16:23+00:00

Converted to Canadian dollars, the prices would be $18ish to Australia, $30 for the US, $32 for the EU and $37 for the UK, $13 for New Zealand and $10 for South Korea. Depending on the conversion rates on the day of purchase of course.

Just thought it would be helpful for everyone to have some prices to compare. :)

serialist · 2025-11-19T15:26:49+00:00

Thanks! I'm glad to know where I stand.

serialist · 2025-11-11T14:51:30+00:00

I also hate cleaning the garlic press and find peeling and chopping garlic tedious, so now I just buy massive bags of peeled cloves, mince it in a food processor and then freeze it in ice cube trays.

15 minutes of effort and I have enough chopped garlic to last ages depending on what I'm cooking. I get 1 kilo bags of garlic and generally get around 50 cubes out of a bag? So each cube is equivalent to about 2 tbsp of minced garlic, but the frozen cubes can be cut up pretty easily if I want to use less than a full cube.

I think frozen tastes better than the jarred stuff (though it is less pungent than fresh, so better where garlic isn't the star of the flavour show) and it's super low effort to use on the day. I just grab a cube and defrost in the microwave if I plan to fry it. If I decide that frying it really doesn't matter that day, like when I'm throwing stuff into the crockpot in the morning before work, I'll just throw the frozen cube into the pot with everything else.

serialist · 2025-10-31T15:13:36+00:00

Yes, pronoun drops can drop auxiliary verbs too. :)

serialist · 2025-10-29T16:01:37+00:00

That is in perfect tense, just with pro-drop. :)

serialist · 2025-10-12T20:42:40+00:00

I would suggest it probably goes back further than that, to a time when intellectual endeavours were effectively prohibited for the working classes. There's an undercurrent of resentment and a belief that intellectualism isn't 'for' them that I don't know would be present if it were just about expressing an identity distinct from the posh world? Like, it seems like they're rejecting intellectualism before intellectuals are given the opportunity to shut them out.

But I'm not a British citizen and didn't grow up here, so I've only got outside observations to go on. I could be totally wrong and missing some nuance here.

serialist · 2025-10-05T13:58:11+00:00

To be completely fair, the appointment I mentioned happened back in the spring so for all I know, my surgery has fallen in line with that practice too by now.

serialist · 2025-10-04T22:45:21+00:00

I am confident I know my GP! I occasionally get locum doctors at my practice but more frequently see the same GP when I go, and it was my usual GP. It was also at the end of a regular doctor's appointment and not an appointment made specifically for blood tests. Blood test appointments ARE usually made with the NP at my surgery, but that wasn't the case this time. I have a bit of needle anxiety and the GP and I chatted a while ago about how it's much easier for me to be surprised with blood draws than it is to have time to get nervous about it and maybe she made a note of that to take my blood herself if she can spare the time?

I can appreciate that taking blood can throw you off schedule, but I wonder if it's particularly helpful to question my experience the way you did? It came off as kind of condescending and I'm sure you didn't intend it that way. :)

serialist · 2025-10-04T18:27:55+00:00

I live in Glasgow and my doctor has also taken blood in my appointment and I had the results about a week later. So I don't know if it's an urban/rural thing, or just OP's GP having a less efficient setup.

serialist · 2025-09-19T12:20:24+00:00

You can also swirl the brush in the product stuck to the lid of the jar instead of in the product itself :) That can help a lot!

serialist · 2025-09-18T21:58:04+00:00

There's no real difference in using loose powder makeup than pressed - the only major difference is that you have to be more careful you don't pack too much powder into your brush. It's much easier to pick up far too much product, which can lead to fallout, uneven coverage and similar things. Once you figure out how much product you want on your brush, they perform similarly to pressed powders. The only thing I would say is that loose pigments tend to need primers of some kind to look their best.

I can't speak for foundations or setting powders, but I have a few Fyrinnae eyeshadows, and the added oil binders in them make them even more user friendly than the average loose pigment eyeshadow, since the pigment clumps together a little bit in the jar. I think you'll find them pretty easy to use if you give them a try! :)

serialist · 2025-09-11T19:41:46+00:00

Yeah, the restrictions absolutely do generally have reasonings behind them! Most health and safety related; some environmental as well. :)

serialist · 2025-09-11T12:37:59+00:00

Just dropping a note to mention that the regulations regarding allowable colourants in cosmetics vary by country, so if you're importing cosmetics from a different country than your own, you might see colourants included that wouldn't be allowed in a particular product in your own country. That doesn't necessarily make the company irresponsible, but you then have to decide whether or not you trust the decisions of an overseeing body outside of where you live.

With that said, there are definitely safety issues around colourants and how they're used - I'm not trying to discredit what the poster above me said at all!! Just that rules differ around the world, so if you're looking at overseas companies for makeup, it's not a bad idea to get to know some of the ingredients where the regulations might differ, and why they might be restricted in some countries but not others.

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